Sissy had her first experience helping video/photograph sale calves this fall at my parents. We use a calf off-screen for the actual calf we’re videoing to follow around. For us, it makes recording the calf a lot easier. Sissy got to lead around the “off-screen” calf all afternoon while we recorded the sale calves one […]

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I ran across a “trick” for cleaning strawberries a while back. I didn’t think much of it because I prefer a knife… that is until Lulu wanted to help clean strawberries one day this summer and I figured we might as well try it out. It’s rather simple… and great if you have little hands […]

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When you buy a place as a “fixer-upper” there are certain things you must be willing to accept: living with some things as they are longer than you’d like or living in a constant construction zone during the slow progress of night and weekend projects typically come to mind. But, the one that’s the most […]

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Have I mentioned we’re in the egg business now? Well, not in the formal eggs-by-the-truck-full-from-a-barn-full-of-caged-chickens egg business, but rather the we-have-the-room-let’s-get-a-few-more-hens-and-sell-some-fresh-eggs egg business. What started out as five chickens as a project for the kiddos grew quickly with the addition of a new group of chicks this spring. The timing couldn’t have been better, the […]

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Last winter we took the kiddos to the National Mississippi River Museum on a beautiful January day. There’s a spot on the grounds that has a statue of Mark Twain reading a book on a park bench. Of course the kiddos were quick to climb right in along side. I snapped a few quick photos […]

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Who knew bed-time snacks could be so entertaining.

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How do you know you are getting serious about making salsa? In the blazing August heat you’re willing to stand over a grill full of… no, not brats or burgers or any other meat… but tomatoes. Since we’ve moved here, we’ve always ended the summer by picking tomatoes by the bucket… literally. Some times by […]

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It had been over 4 months since Peanut’s last visit to UIHC in Iowa City, so the DW and I were understandably a little anxious for Peanut’s most recent check-up at the end of August. The visit turned out to be one of Peanut’s best check-ups yet. Her doctor was so happy with how Peanut […]

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Not that there’s ever a shortage on the “to do list” around here, but we added one more to the list over the weekend. The story goes that the DW’s grandfather built this desk for his tool shed at one point out of what he had handy. The DW remembers seeing it there. The pine […]

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How to explain the gap in posts… hiatus… yeah, that’s what we’ll call it. It was a brief hiatus. Doesn’t that sound better?

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